by Shah Gilani
Back on July 4, I got in touch to talk about how and why my premium members are enjoying nice gains of 44% per day, confidently playing one of the market's wildest, most radioactive sectors.
Well, we had another whirlwind week with another 100% gain, thanks to one simple strategy I use that puts you in position to clean up whether stocks move up or down.
It's called the straddle, and Wall Street wants you to think it's complicated, but it couldn't be simpler.
by Shah Gilani
In 2008, the biggest banks in the Western world were being bailed out by their governments. Barclays, however, raised billions of dollars on its own to fortify its balance sheet and sidestep the inconvenience of having its executives' compensation and bankers' bonus pools subject to regulatory dictates.
Now it turns out that not everything was what it seemed.
Barclays Plc. (NYSE: BCS), the holding company that controls Barclays Bank Plc. (NYSE: BCS-PD), and four former top Barclays executives have been charged with fraud relating to how they raised the money that saved the bank and their paychecks from government oversight.
Whether they were just trying to save taxpayers money or their compensation packages will now be determined in criminal court.
But in the court of public opinion, the verdict's already being tallied.
Get caught up on what they did and how, and then cast your vote here: guilty or innocent?
by Shah Gilani
It's called artificial intelligence, or AI, when software programs learn to perform complex tasks without human oversight. It's changing how we shop and the future of retailing.
You already see it working on your computer and mobile devices when ads pop up for things you're thinking about buying, and you wonder… How did "they" know?
That's AI working to make your shopping easy and often, if not mindless.
Here's how AI is influencing your shopping habits, changing the nature of retailing, and killing off some of your favorite stores and brands…
by Shah Gilani
If you don't know how Amazon really operates, I'll bet you have no idea why it bought Whole Foods and what it really plans on doing with it.
Amazon is going to use Whole Foods the same way it used everything else. Just like it used its original book-selling fulfillment centers to sell everything to everyone, and how it used its Amazon Web Services platform to sell 40% of all cloud-based web services…
To take a piece of any and all economic activity… selling anything and everything.
Now, that includes food.
The Whole Foods acquisition fills in the missing link in Jeff Bezos' grand plan to sell the world to the world, and profit from the sale of everything including books, clothes, food, and anything to do with data.
by Shah Gilani
It's not exactly dead, but the pace of U.S. economic growth since 2009 could rightfully be called morbid.
That's because the prime movers of economic activity – consumers – are acting like the walking dead.
Since 2009, the U.S.' GDP (the total value of everything produced by all the people and companies in the country) averaged annual growth of only 1.3%.
The average annual growth rate from 1990 to 2000 was 3.3%. Compared to that, current growth (only 1.2% in the first quarter of 2017) looks like more of the same slow slog we've been suffering through.
What's really killing the economy?
by Shah Gilani
Back in May, I told you about two pathetic retail dinosaurs – Sears Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq: SHLD) and Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS) – and how to play both stocks for big gains as they lurch toward their deathbeds.
Today, I want to give you an update on how those stocks are faring – and how your positions are looking if you took my advice.
And I hope you did… because we're already up double digits.
by Shah Gilani
According to Wikipedia, fossils (from Classical Latin fossilis; literally, "obtained by digging") are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossil-containing rock formations and sedimentary layers, is known as the fossil record.
That's amazingly close to the definition I'd give the once-trendy watch and accessories purveyor turned dinosaur crap retailer, Fossil Group Inc.
At least we can give it foresight credit for getting its name right.
Similarities include words like "digging" (as in digging its own grave) and "sedimentary layers," which are also known as piled-up crap and draw close comparison to FOSL piling its debt higher, as well as excess inventory of its watches, leather goods, and jewelry.
by Shah Gilani
If you're wondering whether you've been caught in a time warp and it's 2000 rather than 2017, you're not warped.
This wild bull market is being driven by tech.
It's no surprise that investors are asking themselves, "Is this time different, or is this just another crazy tech bubble?"
While it's usually the kiss of death to say "this time is different," the truth is… this time is different.
That doesn't mean the market can't go down.
It means rip-roaring tech stocks in 2017 are nothing like the rocket-riders that crashed and burned in the tech wreck.
by Shah Gilani
Most people who know anything about the stock market probably know a few things about the VIX. (I was one of the traders on the floor of the CBOE who came up with the VIX, so I probably know a bit more than most!)
Investors know "the VIX" is a volatility index and that it is often called "the fear index." They know that when the VIX is rising especially quickly, there's a chance there's going to be trouble ahead and markets might be in danger of selling off… or possibly crashing.
But that's like looking at the tip of an iceberg and saying that's all you need to know about what's underneath the surface. That would be a huge mistake. Just ask the captain of the Titanic.
I'm sharing, without the heavy math, a clear look-through to the depths of the VIX as opposed to what you think you see on the surface.
by Shah Gilani
Knowing how things got to where they are is one thing. Knowing what steps to take to arrest and reverse the widening income and wealth gaps in the United States is another thing.
Here's the thing that matters now.
Until things change (which would have to be winter, because it will be a cold day in hell), the game is the game. The crony capitalists own it and make the rules, and the only way to beat them is to join them.
I don't mean join them literally; I mean play the game the way they do. Make money the way they do.
In general, crony capitalists are all "renters" of financial assets. They're all playing the markets. It's the game they know best and own lock, stock, and barrel. So, anyone wanting to ascend the wealth ladder has to be in the game.
Today, I'm sharing how to play this rigged game… plus responding to my favorite reader comments.
